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Topic: For each, what do s and p represent?  (Read 3549 times)

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milkteaking

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For each, what do s and p represent?
« on: January 16, 2006, 08:26:48 AM »
Yeah, what do they mean?

Offline Yggdrasil

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Re:For each, what do s and p represent?
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2006, 01:44:33 PM »
The orbital designations are artifacts of the spectroscopic techniques used to discover the structure of atomic orbitals.  They stand for categories of spectral lines: sharp. principal, diffuse, and fundamental.  The names have no relevance to the structure of the atom beyond their historical significance.

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